Inked Magic by Jory Strong
Paranormal Erotic Romance
February 7, 2012
Trade Paperback
Berkley Heat

Reviewed by Helyce

Favorite Quote: “The purr in his voice was like the hot, wet lap of a tongue over sensitive flesh, a promise he was good for a lot of things. “I bet you are,” she said, wondering again which she’d regret more, giving in to desire, or resisting it.”

Back Blurb: Skin doesn’t lie to her. It was her gift, sometimes her curse. To feel what others felt. To see the things held in their memories…

With the touch of her palms to the skin of a crime victim, San Francisco tattoo artist Etain can see the faces of the guilty and draw them. She’s a changeling elf but unaware of it, at odds with her police captain father and FBI agent brother, magic and her gift have put her in the path of two compelling men.

Cathal Dunne, the son of an Irish mob boss, needs Etain’s help finding the rapists who left his cousin for dead. Eamon, a powerful Elven Lord, is determined to make her his consort-wife.

Her gift once made permanence impossible when it came to a lover. Now, as Etain approaches the transition to fully Elven, her survival depends on keeping two. One of the men is willing to share her. The other isn’t-until the search for a sexual predator turns deadly, and only by paying magic’s price will there be any future at all.

I included the blurb above because it lays out the main characters well enough and the basics of this story. There is a lot going on in this book. A. LOT.

There is a Harlequin Rapist who remains at large. This man kidnaps his victims, tortures and rapes them and then leaves them for dead. Unfortunately for him, one of his victims is found alive and Etain’s brother, an FBI agent assigned to the case, asks for her help in “reading” the victim in the hopes of her being able to able to bring forth a useful lead so that they can catch this guy.

You also have the drugging and gang rape of Cathal’s cousin Brianna and her friend Catilyn. These young girls get mixed up with some boys they are crushing on, who then drug them and take turns raping them. When Caitlyn starts to convulse the boys panic, put them back in their car and leave them for dead. Caitlyn dies but Brianna survives and her father and uncle demand revenge. They’ve heard about Etain and they demand Cathal bring her in to read Brianna’s memories so that they may seek their own brand of justice. Cathal has worked hard to stay out of his family’s illegal business. He’s owns a nightclub, completely legit, but he agrees to seek Etain’s help on one condition, that his father and uncle allow him to do it his way. He wants to help Brianna but he knows exactly what his uncle will do if Etain is able to name the boys responsible.

Lastly, we have Eamon, an Elven Lord. When Etain and Cathal cross the threshold of his restaurant and his protective wards alert him to Etain’s presence he is shocked. How is it that Etain has been in his territory for as long as she has been without him knowing? When he approaches her and introduces himself he realizes that she is a soul seer; rare in the elven world. If their queen should hear of it, she could be in danger. Eamon decides on the spot that he will make her his.

Etain quickly gets busy with both men. They are aware of each other and that Etain is seeing both of them. Eamon is the more open minded of the two men; he’s fine with her seeing Cathal. He senses Etain’s attachment to him and would be willing to include him in their relationship. Though Cathal only meant to meet and woo Etain so that he could convince her to help with Brianna, he realizes immediately his attraction to Etain has possibilities and he’s not too keen on sharing her with Eamon. Etain sees them separately for most of the story.

Etain struggles to find a balance. Though she is drawn to both men, she leans more toward Eamon as he slowly brings her into his world by introducing her to magic and helping her to understand her true nature. At the same time, however, she feels something for Cathal and she’s not willing to give him up.

Etain is helping her brother by attempting to find the artist who may have done a tattoo which they believe the Harlequin Rapist wears. As she delves into this she unknowingly puts herself at additional and when she is taken, all hell breaks loose. It is than that Eamon realizes that Cathal holds the key for them to be able to locate Etain and hopefully rescue her in time.

There were parts of this story that I really liked. I loved the character of Etain with her gift of second sight via touch. I also loved that she was able to use the art of tattooing to provide a sense of healing and positive energy to her clients. I also very much liked the two male protagonists, Cathal and Eamon. I liked how Cathal was able to break away from his family and lead a legitimate life without losing his connection to his family. When he agrees to help bring Etain to assist in healing Brianna, he wants to make sure that Etain is not hurt in the fall out. Eamon was intriguing with his magic and ties to the elven world. I liked his dry humor and the way his cohorts teased him throughout the book as he attempted to make Etain his. I thought the love triangle worked fine in the interest of this story and I think the author did a really good job when she finally brought all three together the first time.

Unfortunately, I thought the plot with the Harlequin rapist had a lot of holes in it. We never learn anything about this man or why he was taking other woman when as the reader you know he’s stalking Etain. It is inferred that he is looking for “something” in these women but we never learn what that is. The author notes on several occasions that this man is attracted to Etain because he can see her aura in a bright golden light that surrounds her; he can also see it change when he sees her near Cathal or Eamon. Because of this I expected that he might possibly be from Eamon’s world, but it’s never confirmed or denied and we are left to assume he was just some nut job serial rapist.

The other point that left me dissatisfied was with Etain being part elf. Again, it is inferred that Etain needs to go through some sort of change and Eamon will guide her through it. Eamon worries that she may not survive it, but at no point during the story do we witness any kind of transformation. Eamon presses Etain to let him help her that he can guide her to understand her power and control it. That if she doesn’t, it could really hurt her. But other than infusing her with his magic to help her get through the periods of illness that she suffers after using her gift, I saw no guidance, no teachings, and in the end we are left hanging.

I would almost be okay with how this story ended if it was the first in a series and we could look forward to an additional story. I did a quick check of the author’s site and didn’t find anything leading me to believe it is a stand alone. This ending was way to open ended for me and totally changed my view of the book which I enjoyed, in spite of the points I mentioned, until the ending.

Rating: C-

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